Camarilla History
I have separated the Camarilla's history from the main page because I think fully fleshed out histories go against what Requiem is about. Treat this page like a "Dark Eras" entry; optional events for you to use in Requiem campaigns. History Initially created during the Roman Republic, the Camarilla was the first attempt at a globalized vampiric society. It survived through much of the Republic, and into the Empire. While it had grown to be quite powerful, encompassing most of the Euoprean vampire population, it could not survive the fall of the Empire. When the Western Roman Empire collapsed, so did the Camarilla. Kindred spread across Europe, staking their claims and carving out their own petty kingdoms. Many thought their way was the true successor to the Camarilla, and thus began the thousand year War of Princes. Unlike in Rome, where kindred and human worked together, the Princedoms that formed after the fall ruled over humanity with an iron fist. Many territories were oppressive, horrible places to live if you were not kindred. And many still were worse for vampires who did not immediately fit into the pecking order. This went on until the rise of the Catholic Church, and the Inquisition. Delegation of Ivory In 1184, as the Catholic church rose to prominence, the Inquisition was formalized into a proper military organization. Kindred were hunted down and exterminated by the hundreds. Fires raged across Europe and Kindred nearly lost everything overnight. By 1204 Kindred domains across the continent were in ruins. Those powerful enough weathered the storm, but not every vampire was so lucky. The following year, the surviving vampires met in a secret location in Bavaria. This meeting, which came to be known as the Delegation of Ivory, laid out the basis of vampire society. The Traditions were codified, with each elder in attendance swearing to uphold them above all else. The Camarilla was reborn. But instead of working alongside or ruling over humanity, the Camarilla would operate from behind the scenes. Resistance Naturally, not every vampire attended. Some were brave or foolhardy enough to defy the Delegation. They refused to be apart of some organization that dictated how they were to act. These vampires were known as Carthians. They believed that kindred society did not need a textbook to tell them how to behave. They parroted the idea that vampire society was operating well enough, and that the Inquisition was merely a passing fad humanity was undergoing. That the Delegation was a gross and unnecessary over-reaction. Others still, argued for freedom to live as you choose. If that meant being staked and burned alive, then so be it. There was much debate on what to do about the Carthians. Many argued that they should be left to their own devices, and let the Inquisition handle them. Others argued that even vampires as removed from the group as the Carthians could still be used to track down Camarilla holdings. Rogue vampires were a threat to the newly budding Camarilla and vampire society as a whole. The latter won out in the end, and soon the Camarilla went to war. The Carthians struck first, attempting to preemptively dismantle the Camarilla. However, they greatly underestimated the Camarilla's resolve. The location of the Bavarian council was assaulted, however the Carthians were soundly defeated. Their unorganized swarm tactics were met with stalwart Camarilla force. The Carthians were put on the retreat, and the Camarilla - emboldened by their victory - pressed forward. The War of Oaths began. War of Oaths The Camarilla reinforced their holdings in Germany. Eventually, they slowly and methodically spread to other areas of Europe. The Camarilla ruled from the Ivory Castle in Bavaria, slowly bringing Europe under its domain. The Carthians, lacking any real organization, were pushed further and further out of Europe. By 1350, the Camarilla had control of much of the Europe, having pushing the Carthians back to Eastern Europe, Spain, and Scandinavia. However during the late 14th century, around 1390, things began to change. The Camarilla had lost its momentum. Faced with extinction, the Carthians had reorganized into the Anarch Commonwealth. In lieu of their newly united state they were able to finally mount effective resistance. The War of Oaths began to drag on, grinding both factions into the ground, and dragging the world down with them. While the War of Oaths was primarily a Kindred conflict, many other supernatural creatures threw their lot in. Many were content to keep their eyes forward and not to involve themselves in the affairs of vampires. However war is never clean and many other groups got caught up in the mix. Ultimately, the War of Oaths was a significant event in history - but not the only one. Vampires like to pretend they're the center of the universe, but they are merely one piece of a very large puzzle. Reconciliation After nearly 150 years of conflict, the Camarilla and the Anarchs had decided enough was enough. Initially proposed by the Camarilla (the same group who lobbied for the war in the first place) the actual idea of peace took several years to settle across the Camarilla. All in all there was roughly seven years between the idea of peace and the actual sit-down to discuss it with the Anarchs. A temporary ceasefire was put into place, but was violated by both sides very frequently. The Anarchs had spent the last century and a half fighting a war for their very survival. They viewed the Camarilla as nothing more than a bunch of elders throwing their weight in blood around, in an effort to control the world. The Anarchs preached for liberty and freedom. They wanted vampire society free of elder control that was egalitarian and ruled by the majority. Many Barons didn't think peace was even possible. Many had died, many still had lost so much they didn't see any other option than total capitulation from the Camarilla. Despite the fact that the Anarchs had been on the backpeddle since the outbreak of the war, they still viewed the Camarilla's request for peace as nothing more than admission of Anarch strength. The Camarilla on the other hand knew the score. The war was going nowhere, and the idea of being locked in a constant state of war for over a century was a hard pill to swallow, even for the most hard-line of anti-Anarch elders. Many elders would tell you that the Anarch stabilization was merely coincidental, and had no bearing on the sue for peace. Others knew the score. The harder they fought against the Anarchs, the more disenfranchised the neonates (and some ancilla) would become thus creating new Anarchs. The Convention of Thorns was put into motion and eventually finalized. Convention of Thorns Its name comes from the location of the meeting: the Abbey of the Sacred Crown near the small village of Thorns outside Silchester in England. The Convention was proposed by the founders of the Camarilla, who had created the sect nearly two centuries prior. It called for a lasting truce with the Anarchs, who were offered a place in the Camarilla; the Anarchs accepted. The Convention places equal responsibility on both groups for maintaining the peace, but is seen by most Anarchs as a disaster. It specified that while no Anarchs would face reprisals for their actions (except for the especially heinous, which would be considered by the Justicars within a year or forgotten), they would have to return to their Covenants and sires, reestablishing the status quo they had rebelled against. Anarchs of the Lasombra and Tzimisce bloodlines did not accept the Convention, however, and went on to form the Sabbat; a number of Anarchs from other clans followed suit and became the first antitribu. The New World Like every other major supernatural, the New World was a golden opportunity to start fresh away from everything. It was a new land with new opportunities for human and supernatural alike. However, despite the Convention of Thorns there were Anarchs who refused to stop their war against the Camarilla. They believed the Camarilla were scared of the Anarch Commonwealth (which was only partly true), but without the main force of Anarchs backing their plays they were more of a nuisance, than any tangible threat. These Anarchs left the Commonwealth and formed the Sabbat. The Sabbat was outclassed in virtually every field of warfare. Their few numbers and relative lack of experience put the victory squarely into the hands of the Camarilla - which was now bolstered by the Anarch Commonwealth. However new opportunities had arisen. By the mid 17th century, the Sabbat were facing extinction. The discovery of the New World proved a perfect opportunity to leave Europe and reorganize in face of their powerfully entrenched enemy. There was a great debate amongst Camarilla elders to pursue their new enemy into the New World. Eventually, the Camarilla agreed to stake out new territory, if only to give the newer generation of vampires something to do. In truth the elders feared the growing number of newly embraced vampires and did not wish to see their holdings threatened by young upstarts. So, the war followed the Sabbat to the Americas. At this point in time, the Camarilla had spread across the globe. The colonization efforts of every major European power gave kindred the opportunity to spread like a weed. European conflict between competing colonial powers was only made worse by the vampires who had a stake in manipulating it. Supernatural factions battled across the planet as each took advantage of colonialism, seeking wealth and new land. East clashed with west, as a new threat loomed on both horizons. The Camarilla presence (including the Commonwealth) in the New World was meager and unsupported. The European elders were too busy fighting each other over resources and territory. The Sabbat rapidly grew in strength and number now outclassing the Camarilla in every playing field, and the New World was now on the verge of capture by the Sabbat. During the early 1800s the Camarilla cities along the eastern seaboard were captured by a renewed Sabbat offensive. For the next fifty years, the Camarilla lost city after city unable to maintain its powerbase in America. The war for the Frontier was brutal and unforgiving as Sabbat and Camarilla clashed all over the midwest. The only reason the Camarilla did not lose America, was due to a civil war within the Sabbat ranks that halted their entire war effort. The World Wars World War 1 was a turning point in Camarilla politics. Until now, the Camarilla was largely a cohesive political entity. The Anarchs had caused problems here or there, but most conflict was delegated out to the rest of the world. The first world war marked the first time the Camarilla fought itself. Elders had stakes in each of the European countries at play, and this in turn caused the first true Camarilla civil war. World War 2 changed everything. The scope of the conflict was much greater, the death toll far more deadly, and was no longer merely political squabbling. World War 2 was a war about ideals, and the Camarilla was not immune to human ideology. A second Camarilla civil war had occurred, just as the first had. Only this time, it was divided along ideological grounds. A large number of the Tremere, Ivory Tower, and Ordo Dracul had ended up backing the Axis powers. While the Lancea et Sanctum, Invictus, and The Outland Rangers sided with the allies. This division rocked the Camarilla both internally and externally, removing the image of an infallible monolithic organization. The war devastated the Camarilla, and left them in a weakened state very reminiscent of the first Camarilla 2,000 years ago. Modern Nights The Camarilla spent the next 70 years on the back-peddle before finally regaining its strength. The Sabbat war in America had taken a turn for the worst, as the Camarilla lost major cities like New York, Atlanta, Miami, and Houston. With the Camarilla virtually cut off from Europe, the Sabbat have taken the first steps towards dominating North America. It wouldn't be until 2010 that the Camarilla finally laid out the groundwork for a second invasion of America. It wouldn't be until 2015 that those plans had been put in motion.